Chapter Eight #5
“Arggh,” he roared, and I knew without a doubt. The shadow was Alisdair, not the Taken.
He tore fast for the cart and the prize hidden inside.
Fully changed, I got a flash of the beast coming for me.
Lethal fangs, unforgiving claws tearing up the ground, curved back covered in black fur, and a body honed with a weapon-defiant hide and thick, ropy muscle.
This creature was an instrument of killing, and nothing could stop it.
Riordan whipped back and forth, the white of his eyes drowning his irises the closer Shadowsoul got.
Riordan was shouting before he pounced—leaping on the back of the cart and tearing it apart.
A shower of carrots, cabbage, and spinach rained from the sky.
Alisdair found the secret compartment and ripped it off as Riordan hit the ground and started running—not so much as looking back.
Alisdair found his prize—a pile of clothes covered in my scent.
I almost laughed as his roar ripped through the forest, bouncing off the trees to resound through the mountaintops. I leaned forward in the saddle, silently urging my horse on, and leaving Alisdair and his rage behind.
Of course he’d chase after the big, hulking carriage of the man I’d suspiciously chosen to ride back to Lyrica. And while he was wasting his time chasing after all the wrong men and all the wrong scents, I’d ride off into the lands of summer and sun.
Soon, everything faded behind me—light, sound, Alisdair.
I slowed my horse, then slid off her back. The two of us moving quietly and carefully across the perilous, shadowed landscape. Another hour passed. Then two. Then three.
On we trod, escaping the land of Wind and Wild as assuredly as we were escaping the night. Oh so soon, the sun would rise beyond the clouds, and the runes would strike Alisdair down. I eluded him until daybreak. He had to let me go.
Let me go he will, to return to Lyrica and save my family from the grip of Kirwan, but the truth is I’m not done with Lumenfell yet.
I nodded to myself, letting that thought sink into my bones.
I couldn’t be done with Lumenfell until I found and saved the fox boy from Shadowsoul.
Of course, I couldn’t delay my plan to break free of the marriage and runes.
I could hardly free the boy from the castle when I was trapped in the castle.
But once I no longer had the runes boiling my skin, I’d come back with something Alisdair wanted, and trade for his freedom. Although, what he wanted was the issue.
It was abundantly clear that Alisdair wouldn’t settle for anything short of complete, total, soul-crushing revenge against King Salman for what he did to Raelina.
He certainly wanted it more than he wanted a tiny, desperate thief.
The question was how could I deliver that without committing treason?
I couldn’t lie. I held no fondness, respect, or regard for my king.
I didn’t before I had Emiana’s memories, and I had even less after.
Emiana experienced nothing but neglect, and she witnessed nothing but cruelty.
The few times Salman tore himself away from the arms of his harem to hold court and meet with his subjects, he did the Alisdair equivalent of tearing their throats out.
He stole their land and coin while claiming it property of the kingdom.
He jailed anyone who complained of the rising taxes.
He suggested to struggling women that he would happily ease their burden if they joined his harem, and after they refused and walked out, he ordered his advisors to lay even more bullshit taxes and repossessions on them—driving them to the brink to force their no into a yes.
Salman was swine. To know him was to hate him.
Lyrica would never become a free and just country with that man on the throne, but the fact remained, treason carried too high a price.
In Lyrica, when an individual is charged with treason, they and their entire family are put to death.
Made for a very strong incentive to never think such a crime, let alone carry it out.
What if there is a way to get Alisdair his revenge without committing treason? My mind spun, carried off by thoughts and theories as we ventured deeper into the dark forest. What if I went back to the beginning with Raelina?
Murder is murder. Outlawed in every land. While King Salman may be untouchable, he wasn’t king when he murdered his wife, Raelina. If I could find proof of what he did, I’d hand that proof to Shadowsoul and let him show the world who Salman really is.
I tossed my head, shaking that idea loose immediately.
If there was proof of his crime, Alisdair would’ve found it already.
One doesn’t resort to murdering someone’s daughter at the altar, or changing his mind and marrying his most hated enemy’s heir to get his claws into her rightful throne.
.. if he hadn’t exhausted all other options.
Okay, I can’t get him proof but what if I could... could... get him Emiana!
My head snapped up. That was it. Emiana broke the treaty and tricked both nations into an arranged marriage with an imposter. If anyone committed treason, it was her. She sabotaged the treaty that would’ve ended the war, and was indirectly responsible for Alisdair having to attack King Salman.
Salman tried to strike his daughter for defying him and fighting the marriage, because said daughter was a fucking stranger forced to take his real daughter’s place.
Treason against Lyrica, her interests, and the throne, and I had no doubt Alisdair could strongly make that case.
And once Emiana was convicted, by law, everyone in her family had to be put to death.
Including her blessed father.
My mouth curled around the edges. Salman would hang himself on his own barbaric laws, and it would all be legal, undeniable, and unable to fall on me or my family.
Alisdair would get everything he wanted, Raelina would receive justice, and with Salman and Emiana dead, Shadowsoul couldn’t use her claim to the throne to take over Lyrica.
He couldn’t use it anyway because he bound his soul to a poor peasant, not a princess. A fact I’d take great pleasure in telling him, while I impressed on him that he would be accepting my deal without argument or complaint.
I nodded to myself, grinning wide. I’d done it.
I saved my family. I saved the boy. I saved Lyrica from a tyrant king and a terrible war.
The only thing that could’ve possibly sweetened the moment is if I found the heart and destroyed it—saving all of Lyrica—but one mustn’t get too full of themselves.
Savior of Lyrica will do just fine. I wonder what second name they’ll bestow on me.
I laughed. How delicious it would be to make Shadowsoul give me my second name.
The woman who outran, outsmarted, and outmaneuvered him.
When I returned, dragging the true Emiana behind, he wouldn’t dare to call me an entertaining little bird then.
“How premature.”
I snapped around, scream clogging in my throat.
“A mouse shouldn’t smile before it’s escaped the trap.”
Snow and dirt crunched under Alisdair’s paw— No, foot. He was rapidly changing, the beast clawing back under his skin for the smirking, handsome king to emerge. My horse took off so fast, she kicked up a wave of snow that smacked across my cheek.
My voice was a thin rasp. “How...?”
“Clever,” he hissed. “Oh, so very clever. I confess, I underestimated you. Spreading my mark on every male and man in creation. Using a decoy to carry me in the wrong direction. Masking your scent with that”—his nose wrinkled—“unfortunate smell.”
Alisdair started circling me, standing the hairs on the back of my neck on end.
“Everything I was told about you was wrong. And to think, I was going to kill such a magnificent, intelligent creature.” I cried out, flinching away when a clawed finger suddenly stroked my cheek in the dark. “I bow to you, my queen.”
To my shock, he did it—bowing his head in deference to me.
“You are truly formidable. More than worthy of being my mate. My match. But...” He tore his clothes clean from his body. “This was always going to end one way. Come to me.”
“W-wait,” I cried, finding my voice. “Alisdair, please, you have to listen to me. I need to go back to Lyrica. I swear it’s important!
You said I didn’t have anything to bargain, but I do— I will.
Let me go and I’ll return for the boy with everything you need to get revenge against the king without war and bloodshed. ”
He ate the distance between us.
“Or! Or,” I rushed, backing away. “Come with me. After I’ve done what I must, I’ll return and we can go together. There’s a cottage in Sarabai. A treehome in Rajadom. A guest lodging in Quatassa. Any one of those places could hold what you seek—”
Alisdair sliced the buttons of my cloak, letting the wind whip it away.
“—to get your revenge against Salman.”
The front of my bodice was next. Alisdair was a man possessed—slicing a thin, neat line through my clothes, unwrapping his mate.
“Alisdair, this is no trick. You have to trust me, if you do, everything will be put right.” I surged forward, grasping his face in my hands. “It’s not me you want!”
“I’ve told you, my queen...”
He waved his hand, and our surroundings melted away. The snow, the dark, the shifting shadows of the night—all faded.
“You’re all I want.”
I found myself in our bedroom. Seemed there would be no rough tree bark against my back, or snow melting under my feet. Alisdair meant to have me on a bed of silk and cotton.
My lips parted, telling him that I wasn’t Emiana. That we’d both been played for a fool by a selfish and desperate princess, and I had to get back to my family before Emiana’s desperation destroyed more than one life.